Arriving at Manhattan’s JFK Air­ port early one morning, Robin Osler, principal of EOA/Elmslie Osler Architect, didn’t pay atten­
tion to which terminal she was entering. So
she was surprised to come upon a store she
had designed. For her, the unexpected sight
of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store in
Terminal 4 brought home the design team’s
accomplishments. “It really is different from
the other stores. There’s a warmth, an ele­
gance, an openness, a clarity,” she says.

Multiple connections

While most airport stores are designed
to be “clubby and dark” or “bright, shiny,
and hard,” The Met Store is designed to be
an outpost of the museum, she says. The
materials, fixtures, and large­scale graph­
ics create a tranquil haven while inspiring
travelers to take a tangible memory of the
museum home.

“Airports are an important part of oursales strategy,” says Kathy Mucciolo, seniormanager of visual merchandising andstore design for the Met. “This store is theevolution of a prototype meant to forge aconnection between the customer and themuseum.” The new store refines the proto­type with colors and finishes inspired bythe Met’s architecture.

An exterior wall clad in a huge photo of
columns and domes of the museum’s Great
Hall provides a visual connection. Adding
an actionable connection is an interactive
screen on one wall that displays the Met’s
website. In­bound travelers can research
collections and exhibits, and can even pur­
chase tickets. And all customers can con­
nect with the online store and its social
channels.

“It’s the first time we brought the digitalworld into the physical shopping environ­ment,” Mucciolo says. “It literally brings themuseum into the store, in a space that hasgeographical distance from its source.”The greatest design challenge was toresist the temptation to fill up more space,says Joanna Torres, project manager forEOA. “In neighboring stores, you can seethat if there was space, they tended to addone more fixture. Here, there’s space forpeople to navigate with their suitcases.”The walls contain the wiring and light­ing, and while they look monumental,the vitrines are made to be opened fre­quently. “People do buy the reproductionsculptures,” says Osler. “Kathy has told uswe’d be surprised at what people take onairplanes.”